What would the diagnosis be for this client?

What would the diagnosis be for this client?

Roger comes to your office because he has recently been laid off from his job as a store manager. He is concerned because he has started to drink heavily as a result of this and finds himself feeling incredibly sad and depressed. His wife is supportive, but he is afraid she will get tired of dealing with his moods and leave. Although she says she won't, he is becoming preoccupied with the idea of her leaving him. He tells you that his father abused alcohol and that his mother ended up leaving when she couldn't take it any more. His father always drank, according to Roger, would get really down, and, on at least one occasion, talked about suicide. Roger doesn't want to become like his father but finds himself acting in similar ways. He is thinking that maybe he should just tell his wife to leave him, then move to another state, and start all over.

Look at Roger's situation from a psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral perspective. What in Roger's story would you emphasize from each of these perspectives and how would you treat him according to each perspective?

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Psycho-dynamic perspective:

Psychodynamic theories are in basic agreement that the study of human behavior should include factors such as internal processes, personality, motivation and drives, and the importance of childhood experiences. Classic theories about the role of the unconscious sexual and aggressive drives have been re-evaluated to focus on conscious experience, resulting in, for example, the birth of ego psychology.

In Roger’s case, his recent job loss has caused childhood issues (unconscious) to surface, issues that have been repressed (e.g., his mother leaving his father, his father’s excessive drinking, and depressed moods, etc.), which need to be brought to conscious awareness (e.g., free association, dream analysis, transference between therapist and Roger, etc.), in order to be fully integrated into Roger’s conscious awareness, and thus his personality. That is, his main problem is repressed memories from childhood, which need to be integrated into Roger’s personality in order to alleviate the symptoms of drinking and depressed mood, and then Roger will be able to deal more effectively with the loss of his job and searching for a different one.

Behavioral

Behavior therapy provides patients with a successful method for controlling anxiety and ...

Solution Summary

Referring to the scenario, this solution explains Roger's situation from a psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral perspective and how he is treated according to each perspective.